As an Observer

2 Samuel 19:15-23

As an observer, I’ve enjoyed many victories; one of the most recent was the 2017 World Series where the boys from Houston took it all.  Going back many years, when I was in high school our team won the State Championship, yet I was just an observer.  That’s what Shimei was doing when David was in a battle for his kingdom, but with one big difference, Shimei was pulling for the other side.

Do you recall the greeting David got from Shimei while fleeing Jerusalem?  I wonder if you remember Shimei and his actions found in chapter 16:5-8, ^“When King David got to Bahurim, a man belonging to the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he was yelling curses as he approached.  He threw stones at David and at all the royal    ^a]servants, the people and the warriors on David’s right and left.  Shimei said as he cursed: “Get out, get out, you worthless murderer!  The Lord has paid you back for all the blood of the house of Saul in whose place you became king, and the Lord has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. Look, you are in trouble because you’re a murderer!”

Do you recall how David’s men wanted to kill Shimei and David said no, that it might be coming from God?  You and especially me should take note of the action by David, before striking back when attacked. 

Shimei is in a bind; David has won, and Kings have long memories, and I bet he is sweating bullets, or maybe arrows.  You have to wonder what was going on in his mind, Kings kill enemies, and also their families, and my actions and emotions ran amuck.  So Shimei understood if he and his family were going to survive action had to be taken.  Often when we have dropped the ball and entered into sin, the last thing we do is confess with a broken heart before God.  But not Shimei, look at this account in chapter 19:16-20, “So the king came back to the Jordan, and Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and to bring the king over the Jordan.  And Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, from Bahurim, hurried to come down with the men of Judah to meet King David. And with him were a thousand men from Benjamin. And Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, with his fifteen sons and his twenty servants, rushed down to the Jordan before the king, and they crossed the ford to bring over the king's household and to do his pleasure. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was about to cross the Jordan, and said to the king, “Let not my lord hold me guilty or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. Do not let the king take it to heart. For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore, behold, I have come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.”

Now the King has a choice once more, will he listen to the counsel of Abishai who asks on the first encounter with Shimei; “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?  Let me go and take off his head.”  And now at a later time, David is returning in victory, and these were the words of Abishai as they encounter Shimei; “Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord’s anointed.”

Watch out if you have an Abishai give you counsel, for he is not into mercy, just payback for any injustice.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice